LETTERS
"Perhaps you should ship it in a steel container."

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Judging a book by its cover
With an apology, the postal service recently sent me the torn front and back covers of the February/01 issue, with nothing in between. Perhaps the material was so fascinating, as the cover photo suggests, that some P.O. employee had to have it. [ MORE ]

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Books battle rages
Toward the end of James Chandler's disquisition on "The Battle of THE Books" (February/01), he provides an example of current "common core" teaching: "We teach Browning and Wyatt alongside Cindy Sherman and Chuck Close." Why "teach" Cindy Sherman at all? [ MORE ]

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Unusual usage
Regarding "The Battle of THE Books" by James Chandler: I loved every word of it. I was, however, taken aback by one word in the next article, "Search for Meanings." On page 24, I read "…by any strength of the imagination." I have always heard it as "by any stretch of the imagination." [ MORE ]

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Bizbook additions, correction
I enjoyed Albert Madansky's article "How to read a Business Book" (February/01). Since I'm a fan of James March, I'd like to add two books he co-authored to Madansky's list of classics: Organizations (March and Simon, 1958), and A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Cyert and March, 1963). [ MORE ]

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Back in the classroom again
What an excellent thing you have achieved with the February issue! Along with other worthy articles, in "Page-Turners" you have opened the door to the classroom experience so the reader can share the excitement of teachers and students undertaking timeless classics. [ MORE ]

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Nutritional thumbs down
I was excited and impressed reading about the plans for a new children's hospital ("Chicago Journal," February/01) until I got to "...and a McDonald's in the food court." [ MORE ]

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Achilles misdiagnosed
I was surprised to read Chris Smith's suggestion ("Temper, Temper," February/01) that Achilles suffered from Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). The article explains that people with IED do not have the "reflective delay" that intervenes between anger and act; if I remember correctly, Achilles spends most of the Iliad sitting in his tent refusing to do anything. [ MORE ]

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February headlines get an F…
Your February/01 issue is bespattered with story headings intended to be puns, plays on words, and hip humor. However, this reader finds them to be childish, lame, lacking, unprofessional, and inappropriate. [ MORE ]

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…but the staff gets an A
I have been reading the University of Chicago Magazine unsteadily but faithfully after 1951, and in my professional life I was closely associated for many years with the late Don Morris, onetime awarding-winning editor of the Magazine. [ MORE ]

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Psychoneuroimmunology, II
I noticed your reply to Bert Vaux in the February/01 issue ("Letters") with regards to his memory of a 1980s class on psychoneuroimmunology. You mentioned a course on Immunobiology taught by Prof. Quintans. [ MORE ]

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The play's context is the thing
Curtis Crawford ("Letters," February/01) decries [English] Professor [and Dean of the Humanities Janel] Mueller's method of teaching Shakespeare by immersion in the context of his life and times. [ MORE ]

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Chemistry grad students reunion
The Physical Sciences Division and the Department of Chemistry are hosting a chemistry reunion on Monday, August 27. Every Chicago alumnus with an S.M. or a Ph.D. in chemistry is invited to attend the evening reception and awards ceremony, which is timed to coincide with the American Chemical Society meetings at McCormick Place that week. [ MORE ]

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Missed Meanings
Is there an esoteric reason why Vol. I is absent the OED stack pictured on page 22 of your February issue.

Robert G. Christie, MBA'64
Endwell, New York

Nope, no reason.-Ed.

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Write:
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